Spirited Away: Chihiro's Return
by PrincessMelissa83
Summary: [Continuation] Now at twenty three Chihiro is trying to make a name for herself in the literary wrold by publishing her Spirit World adventures in childrens books. However, her publishing company seems to be filled with familiar characters...
1. Prologue: An Odd Discovery

**SPIRITED AWAY: CHIHIRO'S RETURN  
**

* * *

The station wagon turned into a curving gravel drive that led to a narrow, two story, brick house and then looped back around and out so that her father wouldn't have to back out of the driveway in the mornings. This was a good idea on the designer's part, Chihiro decided, as her father's driving skills were lacking in some areas. In the arc of the loop was a small flower garden filled with colorful flowering plants, complete with a decorative Buddha statue among the foliage. The gapping smile of the happily obese deity elicited a short giggle from the girl.

"Look, honey, we didn't miss the movers after all," her mother's voice broke into her thoughts and she raised her gaze to the end of the driveway where a large yellow and white van was starting to turn in. "Now, you'll have to move the car into the garage so they can pull all the way up to the door. I don't want them scratching my wood furniture. Chihiro, you're going to have to get out of the way. Come inside and go look at your bedroom so you can decide where you want your stuff. Hurry now."

Chihiro blinked, realizing she was standing in the center of the drive, keeping her father from being able to move into the side house garage and the moving van from being able to enter. Seeming to come back to life, she jumped and jogged for the front door where her mother was already waiting, holding the door open. "Go on upstairs. Yours is the first door on the right." She was given a light shove in the right direction before her mother went back outside to instruct the workmen.

Alone, the girl was left to ponder just exactly what had happened - had any of it been real? She remembered with absolute accuracy the events of the bathhouse and Rin and the baby...and Haku...no, his name was Kohaku. Haku was the name Yubaba controlled him with, just like she had been given the name Sen. It must have happened...her hands still bore cuts and callouses from her work in the bathhouse. She still wore the hair band that Granny and her friends had made.

It was real, she decided as she reached her bedroom and stepped in. The tatami carpet was cream colored, just like the rest of the house, and the walls were a pale lavender - a color which made her scrunch up her nose in distaste. Her mother would have to consent to repainting, she just _had_ to. Lavender was an okay color, it wasn't that Chihiro disliked it, but the paint didn't match any of her bedding or furniture and it wasn't exactly the color she wanted to live with for the next how ever many years they were going to live there. Sky blue would be a better choice...or maybe pastel green...

She wandered into the room, taking in the size and newness of it. Okay, so her father had been right and this house _was_ bigger than their old one and her room _was_ bigger than her old one, but that didn't change the fact she was going to have to learn her way around an all new school and meet all new friends and it was the middle of the school year and no one was going to want to talk to her because they had already found their groups and wouldn't want to be bothered with her.

With a sigh, she fell to her bottom in the center of her new room and then lay back, stretched out with her arms to her side, looking at the ceiling.

Was school going to be _that_ difficult? It couldn't be more difficult than working at the bathhouse and she had gotten rather good at that. Not everyone there had liked her, mostly because she was a human, but she had made friends. There had been Kamaji, the boiler man, and his dust creatures, Rin had taken to her easily enough, and Kohaku had been the one to save her...No-Face was a friend too...Granny and Bôh couldn't be forgotten either. She had made plenty of friends in the spirit world. Could the human world be that much harder?

As for having to learn her way around the school...around the town too...well, she had gotten from the bathhouse to the very edges of the Spirit World to Granny's house. She had friends with her during the trip, but she had been the leader, they had only followed where she went. Navigating the new school would not be a problem.

Having squelched those worries, she stood up and went to the window, sliding it open so that she could lean out and look at her view. Her room was in the back of the house and overlooked the woods where her father had missed their turn in. Peaking just above the trees she could just make out the top of the train station that lead to the spirit world. She leaned against the window sill and stared out over the green treetops, listening to the sound of the movers bringing in furniture downstairs and her mother instructing them on where to place the larger stuff.

At ten it was hard to concentrate on just one train of thought because at such an age, a person is a bundle of energy and thus their thoughts seem to jump from subject to subject and back again. Seeing the train station peeking from the layer of flora, however, reminded Chihiro that not too long ago she was on the other side of that station and had been there for quite some time. Her stay in the spirit world had to have been at least a month long if not longer and, when they had gotten back to the car, hadn't it been dusty and covered with leaves? Hadn't the flowers she left in the backseat wilted and died, the dead leaves hardening into almost ash? How was it, then, that when they had arrived at their new house, the movers were just showing up with their stuff? Surely they hadn't been driving around with it for a month.

She knew she was older because she felt older and, after looking at her reflection in the window glass, she looked different. Her hair was a bit longer and her arm muscles and leg muscles were more defined. The shorts that she wore, the clothes that had been returned to her before her departure, were looser than they had been when she had worn them last. This she had noticed before she went to look for Granny. The night before her last day at school, her mother had trimmed her bangs. Now, they hung below her eyes, in need of another trim. It was like time had suddenly rewound, but hadn't taken her with it.

Before she could ponder the situation any further, or branch off to another thought, her mother was standing in the bedroom door, trying to catch her breath before she spoke. "Chihiro, dear, have you picked out a spot for your bed and dresser? I think the bed would fit best there in the corner, the foot of it would come almost to the door," the woman commented, motioning to the general area. "Then you could put your dresser over on the side wall between the two closet doors - two closet spaces, isn't that nice - and your desk could go in front of the window. You won't let what's going on outside distract you from your homework, will you?"

Chihiro shook her head. "I won't, Mama." She closed the window and started for the door.

Her mother stopped her before she could go out. "Chihiro," she put a hand under the young girl's chin and lifted her head up to look at her, "didn't I just cut your bangs yesterday?"


	2. Chapter One: Stroke of Luck

**SPIRITED AWAY: CHIHIRO'S RETURN  
**_**CHAPTER ONE: STROKE OF LUCK**_

Chihiro sat at small, cluttered desk in her one room apartment in downtown Tokyo. One hand braced her chin as she looked out of the window at the only view she had - a red brick wall across the alley. Her other hand wide, felt tipped pen, hovered over a sketch pad but never touched the paper. She'd been working on an illustration when her mind had drifted back to the subject of her art - the Spirit Realm and her time spent there. Kamaji was her current object of fascination. A roughly sketched portrait of him at the bellows marked the page in front of her.

What were her ethereal friends doing now? Was Lin still working at the bath house? She'd wanted so badly to leave and see the rest of the world. Had Bo grown up? He was such a large baby...he might have been meant to stay that way. Was No Face still with Granny? She certainly hoped so. He'd been so sweet and she knew no one at the bathhouse would allow him in. What about Kohaku? Surely Yubaba hadn't harmed him for aiding her.

No doubt Kohaku had forgotten all about her by then, she realized with a sigh and set the pen aside knowing she wouldn't finish her work that day, but she remembered him clear as if it were just yesterday they'd said goodbye.

_"Will you be okay?" She didn't like the way Yubaba had looked at him before he led her away. She may not have been completely evil, but she wasn't good the way her sister was._

_"I'll be fine. I've got my name back. Thank you, Chihiro." He smiled at her. It was a strange thing to get used to, his smile. Before he had always looked so stoic and unemotional, his face expressionless, but since she remembered his name and they had fallen out of the sky in a shower of water droplets, he seemed unhindered and prepared to show his beautiful smile to the world - or maybe only to her. He tugged her hand, leading her down the steps towards the riverbed. "You have to go, hurry before Yubaba changes her mind. Do not look back until you've crossed the riverbed. Your parents are waiting for you there. Goodbye Chihiro."_

Come with me! _She wanted to shout, to beg, but couldn't. It wasn't possible, even she knew that, but she didn't want to give him up. He'd been such a good friend to her. This was twice now he'd saved her life, once when she'd fallen in the Kohaku River and then when she had first found herself lost in this world. "Will I ever see you again?" She asked, feeling the tears starting to well up._

_"Yes, I promise." She had embraced him and held him to her for a moment before pulling away and nudging her in the direction of the riverbed. "Now go."_

He had not intended to keep that promise; she knew that now. He probably couldn't keep it. He was a river spirit without a river and she was a human - a living, breathing human. It had been her first infatuation, a childhood crush, but it was over and she had since moved on, though she hoped that he was telling the truth about Yubaba. The thought of the old crone hurting her Kohaku made her shiver.

Well, she would keep him the only way she could; in her memories and in the stories she now wrote, documenting her time in the Spirit World. Of course, what for her was a memoir of a short time in her childhood was nothing but a fictional children's story to everyone else. A story she hoped to share with children across the world in the form of a published book. She'd sent the first draft, complete with illustrations, to several publishers months before and had yet to hear back from any of them. They'd obviously not seen anything special in her writing and had tossed out her work without even bothering to send a declined letter.

The phone ringing brought her out of her thoughts and she stood, stretching before climbing over an overstuffed chair and finding the cordless receiver under a pillow.

"Moshi-moshi," she greeted cheerfully.

"Is this Ogino Chihiro?" The voice on the other end sounded impatient. Chihiro frowned and confirmed that it was she who was speaking. "This is Koneko from Ikimizu Publishing. I'm calling regarding your manuscript."

At that, she fell into the chair next to her. "Ah, yes, thank you. What can I do for you?" What a coincidence that they would call just as she was beginning to give up hope.

"One of our editors has read the draft and wants to meet with you. Can you be here at nine o'clock tomorrow?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I will be there - gladly."

She rattled off an address that Chihiro managed to scribble down on a discarded pad and then gave her the name of the editor she would be meeting with; Komayaka Lin. It wasn't until after she'd hung up with her that she had a chance to think and realized she didn't recall sending the pages to Ikimizu Publishing. In fact, he couldn't remember having ever heard of them.

However, excited about the prospect of being published, Chihiro decided not to dwell on it. Perhaps one of the companies she had sent to had been bought out by another or had simply changed names and buildings. There was always an explanation.

* * *

At exactly nine o'clock the next morning Chihiro entered the revolving doors of Ikimizu Publishing. A waterfall and coy pond next to the receptionist's desk made a tinkling sound that was almost drowned out by the soft music that drifted down from wall speakers. "Ogino Chihiro to see Komayaka Lin," she told the woman at the desk. "I had an appointment." 

The woman never even looked up from her computer. "Elevator's to the left. Komayaka-san's office is in on the third floor, number 104. I'll let her know you're on your way."

Chihiro shrugged and shouldered her purse, taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves as she made her way to the elevator. She'd gone to great care in picking out her outfit the night before and she hoped she made a good impression with her would-be editor. She'd chosen magenta tank top with a lighter pink, sheer top embroidered with roses over it and matched it with a black skirt that hung to her calves with a little pink underskirt showing. She'd chosen magenta colored kitten heels and pulled her hair back in a pony tail in the hopes that she could look her age - a young 24 - and yet still put on the air of a business woman.

As soon as the elevator doors opened she was greeted by an older woman with dark brown hair pulled back in a pony tail at the nape of her neck. She wore a ivory colored jacket over a coral shirt with ivory colored pants. Her expression was not one of welcome.

"Ogino-san, I assume? I'm Komayaka Lin, Cheif Editor here at Ikimizu Publishing. I've read your rough draft - and it is rough - but it just might make an interesting book for young readers." She stepped aside and let Chihiro step onto the floor and then turned on her heels, walking quickly through an open reception area towards a closed door which she opened once the younger girl had caught up with her. "Children's fiction is not a genre we've eve really been in, but the company president is interested in starting. She liked the idea behind your story and asked that I meet with you."

At that Chihiro could have fallen over. The _president_ of the company had read her work? Had _requested_ that she have a meeting? She couldn't believe her luck! She just might get published after all!

"Sit." Chihiro planted herself into an uncomfortable, straight backed chair while Komayaka sat at her own desk chair. "As I said, your draft was rough and will have to have work done to it. We have a junior editor who will be in charge of making corrections and changes. Of course, any alterations to the plot will have to go through you so the two of you should be working together for a few weeks. One thing to be said, however, is that the illustrations were exactly what we would have been looking for. Our art director was extremely impressed. You will have a chance to meet with both the junior editor and the art director later, but first we need to discuss your contract."

"My contract?"

Lin looked at her, her brows furrowing. "You do wish to have your story published, do you not?"

"Yes, but I -"

"Then you will have to sign a contact which will stipulate how much percentage we get of the dividends and how much you will make; how long you have to turn in a draft of the second and subsequent editions; how much advertising you will initially get; so on and so forth. Our lawyer will explain the details to you. Is there a problem, Ogino-san?"

Chihiro blinked, digesting it all. She was being offered a contract - as close to a career in writing as a person could get. It was obvious that she wasn't going to get any other offers...what was the harm of at least looking over their contract, seeing what they were willing to give her? "No, there's no problem, Komayaka-san."

"Koneko, buzz Boira-hito and let him know that Onigo-san is here and ready to discuss our agreement."

Chihiro sat back in her chair not sure what to feel. _Well, here goes nothing..._ she thought trying to settle the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach.

* * *

Glossary: 

(1) Ogino, it seems, is Chihiro's family name - though it is never mentioned in the movie and I don't recall ever having seen it on any websites.  
(2) Ikimizu - Means "spirit water" because I wanted it to tie into the fact that she worked at the _bath_ house in the _Spirit_ Realm  
(3) Komayaka Lin - Means "friendly companion" though her first impression might not exactly seem like it. I've seen it spelled Lin and I've seen it spelled Rin (when reading credits to _Spirited Away_ at so I'm going with Lin.  
(4) Boira-hito - Means "Boiler Man" and you can probably guess the first name...


End file.
